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gift ideas What's Christmas without calendars? Penguin Books Canada is offering Robert bateman calendars for 1997. One is a series of images of animals and the other is a collection of bird scenes. North Vancouver resident Rita Costanzi has a seasonal CD, Pastorales de N o e l , which offers an intimate portrait of the entire Christmas story through the voice of one of the most ancient instruments, the harp.The CD Is put out by Skylark. Unique gifts can be found at Sylvan in EdgemontVillage, North Vancouver (9864863). Some ideas include one-of-a-kind pottery and candles in all colours and sizes, and ranging from beeswax to floating candles. A Starting Place for Musicians by Dianne hAackay Ma The Seven Seas restaurant houses the Portside Room, a venue in which some local musicians are finding a means of getting their careers started. Lany young people dream of Located on the lower deck of the Seven Seas restaurant, the Portside Room is a modest nightclub that seeks to develop the careers of upand-coming musicians. The venue places an emphasis on acoustic performance and original composition. Every Wednesday evening, the Portside Room holds an "open mike night:" a time when young artists can come down to the club and try out their material in front of an audience. The open stage gives new musicians an opportunity to develop their singing and songwriting skills. M o r e importantly, young performers can use open mike nights to build their own public following and to make contacts with other musicians. In the three months since it has opened, the Portside R o o m has hosted performances by many rising artists. North Shore singer/songwriter Terry Brennan is a regular performer at the venue, as is musician John Bottomly, whose single " Y o u Lose, You G a i n " recently made the Top Ten charts in Canada. Other Portside Room regulars include locals such as Jay Knutson (formerly of Spirit of the West) and Jeremy Greenhouse with their latest musical incarnation, Knutson Greenhouse Effect. Plans are currently underway to tape a compilation C D live al the Portside Room featuring some of the venue's most talented musicians. The Portside Room is open four nights a week, from Wednesday to Saturday. Musical performances run from 9 p.m. to I a.m. each night. For information about the Portside Room contact Derek Nyberg at 9 8 7 - 3 3 4 4 . ^ becoming professional musicians. Turning musical talent into a viable career can, however, prove to be a daunting task. It may sound like a cliché, but successful musicians really do spend years playing live gigs, gradually building an audience for their music. Unfortunately, most venues prefer to book established artists, leaving newcomers struggling to find places to perform.